Vandread: The Third Stage: Gods and Saints
by AnEndlessSacrafice
Summary: When the Nirvana leaves to begin the experiment to see if men and women can live together, the crew takes a second task. This task will lead them to new friends... and enemies. on hold,


**Second fic I have ever done. This one I hope to be more of a success because I will have more time to work on it. Vandread is a pretty kool Anime, and should continue on from where it left off. However, until that happens, we, the fans, must use our imagination to create some crazy idea of what we might see if there was another season. I think I am going to loosen up a little more than my previous fic and throw in a little humor into this one. This is the prologue to get you all interested.**

**Disclaimer: You know I don't but I gotta say it, I don't own Vandread, Gonzo entertainment does.**

The Third Stage:

Gods and Saints

#1: Infinite Dreams

Never a Normal Day

"Captain Magno Vivan, we believe that this is in the best interests of both planets and for all of the surrounding systems. That is why we picked you for this mission." An old man was speaking from a large video monitor to four women sitting at a long table. The room was dark but the features of these four could be seen. The oldest of the four spoke up.

"It is not that I disagree with yours and Grand Ma's decision but rather you would give us more time to rest. You both know hat my crew and I have been on a long and arduous trip thru space in the last few months. Some of us almost didn't come back." She looked over to one of the people sitting with her. She was a much younger woman than the captain and her laid back manner was complemented by the long piece of wire that she had been moving across her mouth with her teeth. She looked back at the captain, understanding what she meant by this look. The captain's gaze was then averted back to the monitor when an old woman wearing a visor over her eyes spoke.

"We do not mean to push you and your crew into taking this task but you know better than we do about the dangers the harvest. With just our two planets fleets we cannot stop the Armada of Earth if they choose to attack us again. As a matter of fact we cannot even figure out why they haven't destroyed us already. It has been nearly a month since the battle with the Flagships and the planet destroyer, and we need to prepare for when they come for us again." She paused and changed her tone to a near pleading voice. "We need allies or we will not survive. You know the surrounding space better than anyone on Tarok or Mejale. That is why we are _asking_ you do accept this task. You will continue your experiment and proceed with this mission at the same time, so we will have the best of both worlds. Please Magno, we need your help.

Magno sighed, giving in to the request of the old woman. "Fine, but only understand that I only accept this mission because of necessity. You are right, we do need friends to help us against the Harvest, and they probably need us. This will also aid in our little experiment in testing to see if men and women can live together."

"How do you figure that Magno?" asked the one called Grand Pa.

"When we first took the three men off the Ikazuchi, we only allied with them out of the need to survive. Maybe going on this mission to help save our worlds will help create a bond between us."

"That is a very logical and wise reason Magno," said Grand Ma.

"What we will do now is for the best interests of our people, and by that I mean all of us. We are all human. Also, you must understand that we will not take orders or demands from you unless it is in the best interests of our people. We are pirates and we make our own rules." Her gaze shifted slightly over towards the side of the screen with the old man on it. "Don't try to push us around into doing what you want," she warned. Then she looked to change her mood when she spoke towards them again. This was her "pirating" face. "Well, by accepting this task we will need several things to make sure that we succeed with this mission of yours," she said in her now light-hearted tone. My 2nd in command has compiled a list of 'items' that we will be needing on this little trip of yours." She nodded at the woman with the wire in mouth and she then punched a few keys on the keyboard in front of her. A display of a list appeared on the screen before Grand Ma and Grand Pa's screens.

"What is this, a request list or an inventory list for a battleship for a cruiser?" the one referred to as 'Grand Pa asked.

"Well, Gascogne and I believe that if we are to undertake this mission, we will need to be fully re-supplied and restocked on weapons and ammunition. If you want us to go traversing around in the dark depths of space, we think that we should be very well prepared." Magno smiled for she seemed to almost enjoy putting the leader of the men of Tarrak up against the wall.

"Very well then, we will comply with you deman…errr, requests. I will have then sent over to your base of operations as soon as possible, Grand Pa out." After his final words, Grand Pa's screen went dark and Grand Ma was the only one speaking to the pirates.

"Don't try to disrespect him now Magno, I think that he isn't just my ally," said Grand Ma smiling.

"Forgive me Grand Ma, I got a little carried away."

"It's ok Magno. I to shall go, I have other matters to attend to. By the way, don't forget to send your report on the experiment as soon as possible."

"I will."

Thank you, and if you require anything else, please let me know." A few seconds later, Grand Ma's screen also went dark, and so did the room the four women were sitting in.

"Lights," said Magno, and the lights in the room automatically turned on by the voice command.

The faces of those in the room then became visible. The one closest to Magno on her right was the first to speak up after the video screens died. "Captain are you sure that this is wise, taking up this mission? We only got back a few weeks ago and the crew and pilots haven't gotten nearly enough rest."

"Listen, I know your concerns Rebecca but in reality we were going to cast off from the base after the men returned anyway. The only difference is that we will be going a little farther than we had first anticipated when we decided to undertake this experiment. Don't worry, Ezra will be staying with you while we go out on our little adventure."

Thank you captain but what about you? Will you be all right without the support of my crew," Rebecca asked, concerned.

"Don't worry I still have Gascogne and Meia here to protect me along with all of the _srtong_ young men we will be receiving next week."

'I wonder how they are all doing right now,' thought Magno.

Visions

Alone, in a place with no visible floor, filled with an unusual shimmering blue light, stood a young man about the age of sixteen. _"Your task is not yet done, Hibiki Tokai." _When Hibiki usually was in this place, the voice that spoke to him was different than this one. The voice seemed masculine, but it was hard too tell for the young man who had no real idea what was going on around him.

"Huh? What are you, and what are you talking about?" He was trying to sound tough, but his true feeling of fear began to seep thru his words. 'What is going on here?' Before he could speak again, the environment of this reality changed. Suddenly, he was sitting in the cockpit of his Vanguard, staring at a large craft that was bearing down on him. The large craft in front of him was neither Tarak, Megale nor Earth, but it seemed to be hostile towards them nonetheless.

'Oh my God, what is happening,' Hibiki thought. He watched as the ship in front of him powered up four of the seven large cannons atop the crafts topside. Before it could fire, however, another craft appeared, this one much smaller. This one was a red with black trimmings, a humanoid type Mecha that closely resembled a Van-Type Fighter, but one of the main differences was the fact that this one had _wings._ Four white "Wings" sprang out of its back as it sped off towards the large craft that was preparing to fire, with its energy saber drawn, ready to destroy this threat.

'Is that thing on our side?' thought Hibiki, but his thoughts were interrupted when the large craft detonated before him throwing him back to the place with the shimmering blue light.

Then the light became to bright for Hibiki to stand and he was forced back to reality, and he woke up in his room back on Tarrak. 'What was all that about?' He rolled off of his bed and looked at the time. "Damn it, I over slept." He hurriedly got off his bedclothes and quickly thru on his usual black shirt and orange vest. "Why do I always have to oversleep?" he said to himself as he pulled his pants on. Even though his arm was in a sling, the process of dressing himself wasn't that hard. He had been doing this routine for almost a month, so now it was almost second nature. "Well now I have to hurry," he said to himself as he shot out of the door. 'after today I can go back and see my partner,' he thought gleefully as he made his way thru the compound to the meeting room.

Pick of the Lot

"Can't you leave me alone for just one minute!" cried Hibiki. He was short, about 5-2. He was yelling at an attractive redheaded girl of about the same age as him. He had only been at the meeting room for a few minutes, but that was all that was needed for the chaos of the day to begin.

"But Mr. Alien, when are you going to keep your promise to me?" pleaded the girl in her high-pitched voice, her eyes full of desperation.

"You know Hibiki, it is the best that when you make a promise, you should keep it," said a tall man with only half of his face visible thru his long hair.

"Hey I keep my promises Duero, it's just I can't fulfill this one anyway until we get back to the Nirvana, for two reasons" cried the shorter one named Hibiki. "One, We still have a job to do, and two, her room is ON the ship, how can I visit it from here. So stay out of it."

"Hey, I've noticed that you get very excited whenever Dita mentions that promise you made. Why is that?" a thin man with a shaved head snidely remarked. As soon as the mocking words escaped the shaved-head man's lips, a fire erupted behind Hibiki's eyes.

"Shut up Bart!" Hibiki cried, rising out of his chair in a threatening manner. He was careful not to move his injured arm that was slung across his chest. "It's none of you damn business. Commander, please I just want to hurry and finish these last few interviews so we can go home so can we please get started."

"Well, you seem very focused to day," said a woman with long silver hair.

Hibiki sat down in his chair, and looked away from the woman. "Well I just want to hurry up and get thru all of these candidates so I can go back to the Nirvana and see my partner," he said.

"You know, if we hurry up we can go back and you can keep your promise," said Dita.

"Will you give it a rest all ready, this isn't the time to talk about that kind of stuff." He looked over at Dita, who looked slightly depressed because of the way Hibiki had spoken to her. "Hey listen Dita," he said. Her bright blue eyes fell onto his flushed face. 'Man, why is my mouth getting all dry, and jeez, will my heart slow down.'

"As soon as we get back to the Nirvana I'll…" Her eyes were full of excitement and anticipation as Hibiki continued to speak. 'Am I really going to swear this? I have too now, because Hibiki the man is true to his word.'

"I'll keep my promise and visit your room, but only if _you_ promise to be just a little quieter today," he said in a cheerful voice.

"OK!" cried Dita happily. Hibiki sighed and looked rather embarrassed as Dita hugged him for giving his word on his promise. "Thank you _Hibiki_." He clutched his left arm that was in a sling when Dita's arm knocked into it. He grimaced in pain and embarrassment as Dita hugged him intensely. He was about to say something else when that silver haired woman cut him off.

"All right then, no more fooling around," said the silver haired woman. "Let's get to work, here are the list of candidates we will be interviewing for our last day." She then passed a somewhat large folder to all four of the people at the long table. "We will only be selecting three of these candidates. All of the other demographic areas for this experiment have been covered except for this one."

"Hey Commander," piped a one of the men at the table as he looked over the list. His shaved head was shining in the light that was provided by the room. "All of the people on this list are 3rd class citizens."

"Is there a problem with that Bart?" asked the woman commander.

"No errr…Sir, I simply noticed that this was the first time in the interviews that we are interviewing 3rd class citizens." He was beginning to blush slightly. 'I don't think that I will ever get over the fact that she is really a _he_.

"Well Bart, I thought that it would be best if we had a _variety_ of people to participate in the experiment with men and women. That way we will have a better chance at succeeding and show that it is possible for men and women to live together. Besides that, these men have the qualifications that we are looking for being the fact that they are 'third class citizens'."

"I guess you're right," said Bart as he started to lay back. He was startled when Hibiki jumped out of his chair.

"Damn it, I know this guy!" he cried, although he didn't seem happy with that fact.

"Really," chirped Dita. "Well then we should bring one of your friends Mr. Alien."

"He's not my friend, he's…"His voice trailed off.

"He's what Hibiki?" asked the commander.

"Well, he's the guy who called me out on my claim that I could steal a Van-type and bring it back to the factory to show everyone. I haven't seen him since."

"What's his name?" asked the commander.

"Tai, Tai DiAnno."

The commander, B.C., began to sort thru his/her personnel files until she came across DiAnno, Tai. It read that he was 19 years old, 185 pounds and 5"9' tall. It said he had spent nearly 3 years in the factory that Hibiki had worked in, making him a very qualified mechanic.

'Well, B.C. thought. 'I guess it wouldn't hurt to have the man responsible for Hibiki being on the Nirvana as part of our experiment.'

The Lonely Hunter

Far away from the Nirvana, Tarrak and Megale, a man sat alone in a bar trying to finish his whiskey. About 6 feet tall, short brown hair and a strong build to him were his features. A long scar ran over the top of his eyebrow, over his eye and just past the point of his right cheekbone. His brown eyes were starting to glaze over due to the effects of the alcohol. He looked about 23 years old, 24 at the most, however his boyish good looks were washed away in the years of combat and death around him.

He wore black and gray camouflage pants along with black shirt and brown trench coat. Around his neck were two necklaces; one held four different 'dog tags' on a chain and the other was a replication of a sword. Holstered underneath his jacket, was an unusual weapon. It had two barrels, each about eight inches long, and what seemed to be the shells for it were placed in the loops on his belt going all the way around his waist. He might have looked like an old bounty hunter from the stories about Earth's ancient past, when the planet all humans came from was still habitable. Now, that is what this man was, a bounty hunter.

In the last year or so, alcohol had become one of his best friends. Whether it was his Irish heritage, all he had been thru lately or a combination of the two he didn't care, the booze would wash away all of his troubles, at least for a few hours. He listened to the soft baselines from the ancient jukebox behind him. The bass player was just going up and down some scales that gave a very relaxed feeling to the drinker. He tapped his steel-toed boots against the floor to keep the beat in his head. Just then an old man in front of him interrupted his thoughts.

"Come on Connor, I think you've had enough for the night," said the old bartender.

'What does he know when I've had enough,' thought Connor, 'I'm a TRUE Irish-man who can DRINK, and I am giving him about all the business he's going get tonight.'

"You're makin' money off me drunk ye old man, I don't see why ye have to bother me," he responded in his accent, slightly slurred from his drink.

"It's not that I don't want you here, Connor it's just that I have had a quiet night so far and Murray and his gang will probably be here any minute now and I don't want another fight in my bar."

Connor looked up at the old bartender who had been kind to him ever since him and his crew had ended up getting stuck on this heap known as Ares V. He was always letting him in after hours, striking a conversation from time to time and having a drink and letting his troubles wash away in the bottle. Through the alcohol, Connor remembered the fight he had gotten into with Murray and his crew last week at this time.

Murray was one of the most well-connected gang leaders on the planet because his older brother, Marticus, was a lawman who also had it out for Connor and his crew. He had tried to arrest Connor after the fight saying things like 'assault' and 'intent to murder'. However, Connor had connections of his own. The head of the security Dept. on Ares V had worked with Connor on several occasions to bring in 'hard to catch' criminals that were 'in-system'. Still, his buddy had to pull quite a few strings to keep him out of the local lock up after what he did. He had knocked out and hospitalized two of the gang for touching a young girl who had came into the bar looking for her father. Murray was there but only partook in the act as a spectator, laughing, as his two drunken buddies were about to violate the poor girl. Connor may be a bounty hunter, but he still had his morals, and that kind of thing struck a chord on Connor's quick temper. He choose not to let Murray off the hook easy and gave him something to remember why, 'it's not right to treat a lady like that.'

'Murray would probably be looking for me if he came in t'night,' thought Connor, slowly coming out into the world of the sober as he thought more about what Murray would do to if he came in. 'I don't see why he's angry, I only broke his nose, and his arm, and maybe a rib or two.' Connor let a smile crack on his lips as he thought about how Murray pleaded not to hurt him.

"I'll get outta here now then Doc," said Connor, getting up from his seat. "I don't wanna cause ye any more trouble. Besides, Rash wants me and him to go and pick up a bounty in New Bombay and I am probably gonna need me sleep if I wanna catch this guy."

"What did this guy do? He sounds like a bit of trouble if you ask me, comin' from New Bombay" Doc inquired with a raised eyebrow. Connor was about to respond when the door behind him opened with a loud crack.

"Well, look who it is," said a voice behind him.

A young man about the age of Connor, but about six inches shorter than him stood in the doorway to the bar. He had a brace on his nose, and a cast on his forearm.

Accompanying him were 2, at least six feet, six inches tall, strong looking men who looked a little drunk themselves, more so than Connor was a few minutes ago. The shortest of the group who had spoken before had a gun holstered to his right leg.

"I was hoping to catch you here, so I brought a few of my buddies to meet you, Connor. The other two in the hospital asked me to send you their regards and to say that they 'hope to see you soon'." He chuckled obnoxiously at his own joke. He had thought that he was going to beat him.

"Back off Murray, I'm just goin' home now. There's no need for any trouble t'night." Connor wanted to avoid a drunken bar fight at almost any cost, but now it seemed, due to the current state of things, that this was unlikely to happen.

"Shut up Connor, I am getting tired of listening to your bitching and your horrible accent. You're not getting out of this one, you dumb, drunk Mick! Natasha, kick his ass, but watch it, he's pretty quick."

"No Problem," said a tall blond man with a thick Russian accent.

"Pog mo thoin!" cried Connor, but the short man with the broken nose only stared at him confused at what he just said.

'This guy is asking for it, but I don't want to mess up the Doc's place again. Well I'll just have to do this really quick and carefully,' thought Connor

"So the little Irishman thinks he can fight, eh?" Said the big, yet seemingly slow witted Russian.

"Let's see what ye got, tubby," said Connor, egging him on. Then, the big man of Russian decent shot out both of his large arms at Connor in an attempt to grab him.

'Dumb move big guy,' thought Connor. As soon as the man's arms were close enough, Connor knocked both of the arms away from his body and proceeded to attack swiftly with one of his well-trained, often practiced, defensive moves.

Once the arms were out of the way, Connor quickly struck a 1, 2, 3 combo, using his forehands, into the jugular vein of his opponent, stunning him. Connor then grabbed both of his opponent's arms, crossing them across the large man's chest. Once crossed, Connor then kicked the man in the stomach, ensuring that he had no more plans of moving anytime soon. Finally, Connor pulled the man over his shoulder, and using his weight against him, front flipped him onto the ground, knocking him unconscious for the time being. The whole defensive move took up maybe 2 seconds of time.

Not stunned by this display of control over the situation, Murray reached for the high-tech looking pistol that was holstered to his right leg as fast as he could.

"I'm gonna kill you, you bastard!" cried Murray as he drew his weapon.

Connor was still too fast for him and before Murray could take aim, Connor had taken off his trench coat and had thrown it at him, covering his face. Startled and terrified, Murray frantically tore the coat off of his face but it was still too late.

In the matter of milliseconds after he threw the coat, Connor had ran up to him and drawn his double-barreled hand-cannon and had the deadly end right in Murray's face. Murray took off the coat to see the BFG pointing square between his eyes. His other comrade was about to move into action after being stunned by how this man beaten there biggest friend in a matter of seconds but were stopped when Connor shot him a look that could pierce stone.

"Scoop up your friend here and get out," said Connor, seemingly devoid of emotion. "I have just about had it with you and I am keepin' track of all the dumb things that you do around me. Right now you're on strike _two _and I am not going to offer any more 'at-bats'. Comprende?"

Murray took a big gulp and nodded his head, never blinking once, not wanting to look away from the massive gun in his face.

"Good, now get going," using his gun to point in the direction of the door. "Cross me again and it will be the last thing that you do." Connor glared at him with a cold stare.

After they had run out carrying the big man from before, Connor holstered his weapon and walked over to the bar and grabbed his unfinished whiskey bottle.

"I'm gonna take this one for the road, ok?" he said, laying a few bucks at gaping mouth bartender's counter. "Oh and by the way," said Connor as he leaned out the door. "The guy I'm goin' after is another drug dealer the cops want brought down. He's one of the big ones down there. I think it's going to be a hard one." The bartender said nothing but looked stupefied as he looked over towards the door.

"Hey, at least I didn't make a mess." He said with a chuckle, slinging his coat over his shoulder and walking out the door.

'Who the hell is that guy,' thought Doc. 'I swear, that guy must have been a soldier, but still I wonder where it is exactly he learned all that stuff from.'

**Well this is the updated version of Ch 1. For the last few weeks this story has been on hold and I have been working in with my mononoke fic. I changed it up a little bit and due to popular request I added in a few _MR. Alien's_ too make you people happy. In fact I didn't notice that Dita never said it until those reviews. So now I will be resuming this one and expect to see 2 updates real soon. Peace and as always……**

**GO METS!**




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